Most Comfortable Suspension Setup

[chimp400]

Everyone will have a different opinion on these kits, after all we drive on different roads and at different speeds.
I went vwr as i wanted a small drop whilst retaining the feel of the oem suspension, and I think it’s pretty good.
If you plan on driving like a hooligan everywhere and doing track days it’s probably not the kit for you.

[pudding]

That's exactly it.  Tailor the suspension to your local roads and driving preferences.  The VWR kit is a deceptive one.  At first everything seems golden, it's well mannered and rides well but it runs out of ideas very quickly when pushing on.  Progressive rate springs are unpredictable at the best of times, so I would steer people away from them and onto linear rate kits.  It's not even at hooligan levels of driving these issues crop up.  I tolerated it for only a few months but discovered pretty quickly it's no more capable than the stock suspension when the going gets tough.

[Mekaniko]

That's the concluision that I was waiting.

By the moment I will go for a Bilstein B8 + Eibach Sportlines as have good experience with it on a previous car.

[pudding]

Don't forget to consider Anti-roll bars as well as they can help out a softer kit like the Racingline.  I recommend the Eibach kit, mainly because the front bar comes with new clamps and bushes pre-fitted.  On bars that don't include them, I don't think as straight forward as taking the old clamps off your stock bar fitting them to the new one as they are kind of permanently attached at the factory.  I think people drill the off or something, not sure.

The bars make a huge difference to cornering, even with an uprated suspension kit 

[colesey]

I can second what Pudding says above as I added the H&R small arbs to my racingline suspension. They were a worthwhile addition in centring the rotational pivot of the car though I do wonder if it would have been better to have just bought stiffer and more adjustable coilovers in the first place?!? Something like the relentless (B&C) might have been a better solution. Anyhow the H&R arbs reuse the original arb mounting brackets and these need to be drilled off the old bars. Two years later, I experienced some cracking with one of these and also think that it would be better to buy a brand which comes with its own new brackets.

A further mod while you’re down there is the Superpro balljoints which not only correct the roll centre with lowered suspension but also give upto 2 degrees of negative camber. This gives a nice improvement in front end bite.

[pudding]

The ARBs make a big difference to stiffer setups as well.  As you know, I went from the Racingline kit to much stiffer coilovers and even they benefitted from the addition of ARBs.

Uprated suspension transforms the car from factory.  ARBs adds another cherry on top.  Adjustable dampers puts yet another cherry on top, plus a healthy sprinkling of 100s and 1000s.  Using all 3, you can fine tune the ride and cornering feel to compensate for the summer/winter durometer differences in the bushes and tyres    For example, over summer, I usually dial-in 2-3 clicks more damping to compensate for the soggier tyres and chassis bushes.  It's especially noticeable in the top mounts and tyre side walls.  Need to get some decent solid top mounts but the only decent ones are Ground Controls @ £450.  Wish I'd kept my old ones now 

[rizmeah]

Hi all

My car has been lowered on 50mm springs and the ride can be quite harsh.

We are expecting a baby and I am hoping to refresh the suspension to make it as comfortable as possible.

Now one route would be standard new equipment, but 16 years after release there must be something out there which is better for this job!

Not really worried about the drop particularly, id not be worried if I was standard height, as long as the car was a nicer ride.

Had been looking at a Vogtland fixed height kit after hearing great things, thought maybe the 35MM kit?

Otherwise maybe the AP kits or Even the Racingline kits (although they seem rather expensive for what they are from what I’ve read).

The car is mainly used for commuting, although it would be nice for it to handle the odd B road blast well.

Any advice appreciated.
I have till August to sort this out : )

Ollie


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bringing an old thread back alive..

What did you end up going for in the end? I am primarily focusing on comfort but want a subtle drop..

Did you end up going for the RL kit?

[probedb]

I currently have Bilstein B4 with Eibach which gives a very subtle drop on the front but too much on the back for me. Currently waiting for some B3s to replace the Eibachs then it's back to slightly better than OEM after 185k miles :D